WHY ARE DRUG SIDE EFFECTS SOGROSSLY UNDER-REPORTED?

TayebMEZAHDIA - Algeria - Pixabay

"It is estimated that between 5% and 10% of adverse drug reactions are reported. Thus, the main limitation of the passive method of analysis of drug safety is underreporting, which decreases the sensitivity for detecting adverse events, making it difficult to estimate the frequency of occurrence, as well as assessing the severity and impact on the health of drug users."From a December 2013 study (Causes for the Underreporting of Adverse Drug Events by Health Professionals: A Systematic Review) published in the medical journal SciELO.

It's no secret that UNDER-REPORTING of adverse events by the medical community is common --- dog-common. The question is why? This issue was raised yet again by a discussion with a friend of mine during church on Sunday. It seems that a buddy of his recently had a reaction to a certain kind of antibiotic (FLUOROQUINOLONE ANTIBIOTICS) that left him with tremendous joint and muscle pain. Like many other drug reactions, these are said to be rare ---extremely rare. You can imagine the sort of scenario this leads to. When this person went to their doctor for a solution, they were given NSAIDS and told that their problem could not possibly be due to the antibiotics because those sorts of reactions were so rare as to be almost non-existent.

In similar fashion to what's in the first link on the page, we know that vaccine reactions are only reported to VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) about 1% of the time (HERE). In fact, VAERS' website states that, "Underreporting is one of the main limitations of passive surveillance systems, including VAERS. The term, underreporting refers to the fact that VAERS receives reports for only a small fraction of actual adverse events". What does underreporting do? It creates it's own vicious tautological cycle.

A tautology is a redundancy --- a way of saying the same thing twice using different language. For instance, if I told you that I personally washed my car with my own hands, I am essentially saying the same thing twice. Thus, don't be surprised when your doctor says to you, "because it's a well known fact that side effects or reactions to drugs and vaccines are so rare, your problems (your child's problems) cannot be the result of a drug reaction". What does this do? It keeps the rates of adverse events artificially and perpetually lower than what it should be --- much lower. Thus, it skews the side-effect profile of specific drugs and / or vaccines toward safety (or at least looking like it's safe). Again, in order to see how dramatic this problem really is in our society, click the first link at the top of the page.

Part of the problem is that real life application is far different than controlled studies (HERE). But that alone certainly can't explain the magnitude of this problem. What we have here is a perfect storm coming together to create a DRUG CULTURE that is far more dangerous than we are led to believe (HERE). Allow me to give you some solutions to this situation.

SIMPLIFIED CONSUMER REPORTING: When it is up to your doctor to report adverse events, we've already seen that this simply is not happening. Solution? Make it easier for people to call in or fill out a computerized form concerning their reaction. Please note that this does not mean that anything will be done to help your current situation. It does mean that the statistics will be (or at least should be) more accurate. Hopefully the data from these stats can be crunched and examined by experts who can determine how safe (or unsafe) certain drugs or vaccines really are. Although there are PROGRAMS IN PLACE, people are not aware of them or don't know how to use them. This is why the next bullet is so critical.

SIMPLIFIED PHYSICIAN REPORTING: Doctors are busy. No; that's an understatement. They are swamped. The problem is not the time spent with their patients. It's the fact that they are forced to spend inordinate amounts of time charting (HERE) --- in some cases, more time than what they spend with patients. The last thing they want to do after spending several hours doing paperwork (see previous link) is more paperwork. If physician reporting of adverse events is not ridiculously easy, it probably isn't going to happen.

AWARENESS OF THE SIDE EFFECT PROFILE OF THE DRUGS THEY PRESCRIBE: Should doctors report reactions that are common? What about reporting reactions they are not familiar with, are thought to be rare, or they have never heard of before? According to peer-review, all are common reasons that drug reactions fail to get reported. And when these reactions fail to get reported, they never become statistics. Again, this makes drugs appear much safer than they really are.

MAKE REPORTING MANDATORY: For all intents and purposes, reporting is voluntary. In fact FAERS (The FDA's Adverse Events Reporting System) says right on their website that, "Reporting of adverse events and medication errors by healthcare professionals... is voluntary in the United States." On their 'Patient Safety Network,' another government entity --- The AHRQ (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) --- has an article titled, "Voluntary Patient Safety Event Reporting (Incident Reporting)". What does "voluntary" really mean in most cases? It's sort of like taking a test in school that you are not being graded on, and doesn't count toward your final score (by the way, this sentence is a tautalogy). I'm tired, I'm busy, who really cares anyway? This is not an exaggeration, as according to peer-review, "indifference" and "lack of time" are two of the more common reasons given for not reporting adverse events.

The truth is, I could write a book on this topic. It's yet one more link in the chain that proves you can't trust EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE. Who do I suggest you trust? Yourself. It is important to study and figure out what works as far as healthcare is concerned. Although most physicians decry it, the internet is a great source --- if you can weed out the sales pitches and junk. I've tried to simplify that process for you by providing you information (that's right folks, it's completely free) about what it may take for you to regain your health. Nothing up my sleeve and nothing to sell. I've waded through the oceans of muck to hopefully provide you some diamonds.

BRIBING PHYSICIANS WITH....FOOD

Medical Symbol Rama and Eliot Lash

"...the American pharmaceutical industry employed 102,000 sales reps, making constant visits to the country’s approximately 661,400 doctors. Drug companies deny that they are paying bribes to doctors for recommending their products and boosting their sales. They see their paid relationships with health care providers as beneficial to medicine and the public good. Yet two observations seem to refute both notions: First, drug companies would not be so generous if their investments in giveaways did not net enormous returns. Pharmaceutical companies spend an estimated $20 billion a year on marketing to physicians, while prescription drug sales top $300 billion. And second, several studies determined that doctors, like all human beings, are subject to the natural tendency to want to give something back to a gift-giver, in a dynamic psychologists call reciprocity."Cherry-picked from the January 18th, 2012 issue of DrugWatch (How Big Pharma Influences Doctors)

"Drug and medical device manufacturers routinely pay doctors and hospitals in the form of meals, travel reimbursements, gifts, entertainment, compensation for speaking engagements, and more. According to the Pew Charitable Trusts, more than $27 billion was spent on marketing to physicians by the pharmaceutical industry in the year 2012. In terms of direct payments, the initial batch of data released by Open Payments covered only the last 5 months of 2013, in which $3.43 billion was received by physicians and hospitals. New information covering the full 2014 calendar year was published on June 30, 2015, revealing that U.S. doctors and teaching hospitals received a total of $6.49 billion from drug and medical-device makers."From Chloe Della Costa's July 7, 2015 article (Is Your Doctor Taking Bribes From Drug Companies?) in The CheatSheet

A good friend of mine who works at an unnamed Cancer Treatment Center told me that pharmaceutical companies have this clinic "covered" every single day of the week as far as meals are concerned. In fact, providing meals to doctors and their staff is the number one way that BIG PHARMA bribes the medical community. Don't believe me? Check out this new study from one of the American Medical Association's numerous journals (JAMA Internal Medicine).

Just last week they published a study calledPharmaceutical Industry–Sponsored Meals and Physician Prescribing Patterns for Medicare Beneficiaries. It's stated purpose was to, "study the association between physicians’ receipt of industry-sponsored meals, which account for roughly 80% of the total number of industry payments, and rates of prescribing the promoted drug to Medicare beneficiaries." Although there are other methods regularly employed by the pharmaceutical industry (vacations disguised as CME, speaking fees, gadgets / electronics, tickets to sporting events or Justin Beaver concerts, 'consulting' fees, clothing, travel, etc, etc, etc), a whopping four fifths of all medical bribes come in the form of food. After all, everyone likes to eat, and for most people (BUT CERTAINLY NOT ALL), it's something we do multiple times a day.

The researchers looked specifically at the relationship between the number and quality of meals provided by industry, and the resulting prescription habits for four very specific and popular classes of drugs --- STATINS, ANTI-DEPRESSANTS, BETA BLOCKERS, and ACE INHIBITORS. What did they learn? Big Pharma realized decades ago that when they satisfy doctor's rumbly in their tumbly, it always leads to money. Check out these cherry-picked results showing how specific name-brand drugs are always prescribed at greater rates when food is involved.

"Physicians who received a single meal promoting the drug of interest had higher rates of prescribing rosuvastatin over other statins, nebivolol over other Beta-blockers, olmesartan over other ACE inhibitors and ARBs, and desvenlafaxine over other SSRIs. Receipt of additional meals and receipt of meals costing more than $20 were associated with higher relative prescribing rates.Furthermore, the relationship was dose dependent, with additional meals and costlier meals associated with greater increases in prescribing of the promoted drug. Receipt of industry-sponsored meals was associated with an increased rate of prescribing the brand-name medication that was being promoted. Industry-sponsored meals have been associated with learning inaccurate information about the sponsor’s and competitor’s drug and with increased cost of prescribing."

Look folks; this is no different than what is currently (and rampantly) going on in politics. Politicians. both rep and dem) sell influence and access to the highest bidder(s) via absurd speaking fees and contributions to their political PAC's or Foundations. This is why you can never trust a politician to do what's best for the people, but why you can always trust your DOCTOR TO "FIGURE OUT" WHAT DRUG THEY ARE GOING TO GIVE YOU (or HERE). But then again, if you are one of those people relying on the medical community to keep you healthy, you should realize that MONEY is the very nature of EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE. Why not take a few minutes and learn how to take charge of your own health (HERE).

MORE EVIDENCE ON THE FUTILITY OF VACCINATING AGAINST THE FLU

Bruno Glätsch - Bühlertann/Deutschland - Pixabay

Although the year is only half over, it won't be long before you are being told yet again to get vaccinated against the Flu because IT'S FORECAST TO BE THE WORST FLU SEASON EVER. We already know what doctors (HERE) and nurses (HERE) think about mandatory FLU VACCINES. It should make you wonder why they, as a profession, aren't more "all-in" as far as getting Flu Shots themselves? If they've done their research (and as physicians you would hope this to be the case), they are well aware of another of the American medical community's dirty little secrets --- Flu Shots don't work. This is not my opinion, but the conclusions of peer-review meta-analysis.

For instance, it was the renowned Cochrane Review who concluded (HERE) that when it comes to the elderly, the very best you can hope for in a virus-matched year (this happens about once a decade) is 4% effectiveness. In a non-matched year (90%), the Flu Shot's clinical effectiveness is 1%. Unfortunately, Flu Shots for children and infants are no better. In fact, I recently showed you that Cochrane revealed that Flu Shots in this group are no better than placebo (HERE). Oh; and who could forget the SORDID STORY OF TAMIFLU? Now this.

For people who don't like Flu Shots, there's the snortable LIAV (Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine) Called FluMist. Numerous studies have shown that LIAV Vaccines taken for Flu have at least 50% better efficacy in preventing Flu than shots. In light of what we learned from the previous paragraph, the latest revelation from AstraZeneca (manufacturers of Flu Mist --- the biggest producer of snortable Flu Vaccines) should at least make you sit up and take notice. Listen to what NPR reported yesterday.

"It turns out that the spray — which is particularly popular among kids, pediatricians and parents who don't like seeing their little ones cringe at the sight of a needle — hasn't worked as well as the old-fashioned shot during the past few flu seasons."

This raises it's own questions. How can you really get worse results than 1% efficacy? But another question might be more important --- why? Reporters, physicians, and public officials alike wanted to know why, for the last several years, this concoction hasn't worked to prevent the Flu. It's not really a mystery folks. If you start looking at the links in the top paragraph you'll see that the more frequently people take the Flu Shot, the less effective it is (although your chances of Alzheimer's will go up significantly --- HERE). How bad has it been for the FluMist Nasal Vaccine over the past several years? Here is part of yesterday's statement by the CDC.

"In late May, preliminary data on the effectiveness of LAIV among children 2 years through 17 years during 2015-2016 season became available from the U.S. Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness Network. That data showed the estimate for LAIV vaccine effectiveness among study participants in that age group against any flu virus was 3 percent. This 3 percent estimate means no protective benefit could be measured."

Here's what's so interesting about this whole conundrum. We've been warned over and over by the powers that be (our family, our pediatricians, our politicians, our public health officials, and especially BIG PHARMA) that if we don't get our Flu Shots, it will cause a pandemic that will kill millions (LIKE WE SAW DURING WWI). However, this has not even remotely played itself out. Unfortunately, despite the horrendous effecacy of Flu Vaccines, nothing is really going to change. What do I mean? Listen to what Reuters writers Ben Hirschler and Julie Steenhuysen wrote yesterday concerning the devastating (you'll see that I am using the work tongue-in-cheek here) financial effect this fiasco is going to have on AstraZeneca.

"Deutsche Bank analyst Richard Parkes said the U.S. vaccine problem would likely drag down consensus earnings forecasts for the current year by around 2 percent and there was a 1-2 percent risk to future forecasts, if the issue was not resolved. Shares in AstraZeneca gained 0.3 percent while the European drugs sector rose 0.4 percent."

HERE'S how that whole stock-prices-are-up-even-though-evidence-and-trust-are-down thing works. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to under-perform almost 100% and still get paid? It certainly doesn't work that way in my office (HERE) and I know good and well it doesn't work that way in your business. But this is par for the course if you are a pharmaceutical company --- or a politician --- or a FREELOADER.

What should you do in light of this information? Firstly, realize that Flu is not the killer it has been made out to be by those pushing various agendas and vaccines (HERE). Secondly; there are any number of things you can do to prevent Flu that go far beyond simply washing your hands, wearing a mask, or trying not to cough or sneeze in someone's face (HERE is one example of many). Thirdly, realize that even though you've had it beat into your head from the time you could toddle around that germs are the cause of disease, this is much less true than you might imagine (HERE). Fourthly, educate yourself. Start realizing that if you don't have a firm knowledge base in the field of health, you're ripe for the picking. This is because to the industry, you are merely a dollar sign. That's right folks; Big Pharma sees you as a commodity --- nothing more, nothing less. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you can start seeing the truth and taking control of your own health.

THE EVIDENCE-BASED APPROACH TO DIAGNOSING AND TREATING AUTISM

Christer1987

"Though not approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of autism, a common class of antidepressants is often prescribed to treat the symptoms of autism in children. The selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are among the most widely used drugs for autism treatment, even though the effectiveness to date has been questionable. A new study published in the June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry reports that, not only are SSRIs ineffective, they may actually cause unintended side effects."From Dr. Jennifer Gibson's (Pharmacist) Brain Blogger article called Common Treatment Ineffective for Autism"Antipsychotics are the most efficacious drugs for the treatment of irritability in ASDs, and may be useful in the treatment of other symptoms. Psychostimulants demonstrate some benefit for the treatment of hyperactivity and inattention in individuals with ASDs, but are less efficacious and associated with more adverse effects compared with individuals with ADHD."From Harvard's 2012 study calledPharmacologic Treatments for the Behavioral Symptoms Associated with Autism Spectrum Disorders Across the Lifespan and published in a 2012 issue of Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience"Our most effective interventions for ASD are currently educational and behavioral approaches."Dr. Sally Rogers, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at UC Davis MIND Institute, being quoted by Francesca Happé for last May'sLiveScience Op-Ed piece calledAutism Truths and Myths: The State of the Science.

The June 20 issue of the Psychiatric Times carried an article calledAutism Spectrum Disorders and Psychiatry: Update on Diagnostic and Treatment Considerations. Diagnosing AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS (ASD) is about what you would expect.

"The most reliable early markers for ASD are failure to respond to one’s name; lack of social smiling and shared attention; delays in babbling and lack of words by 16 to 18 months or phrases by 24 months; and failure to use gestures such as pointing, showing, or reaching. Any loss of language or social skills is cause for concern. Primary ASD features in middle childhood often relate to difficulty engaging in age-appropriate peer relationships, collaborative and imaginative play, back-and-forth conversation on a flexible range of topics, and age-appropriate interests. Whereas repetitive motor mannerisms (eg, toe walking, hand flapping) are common in typically developing younger children, when these behaviors persist into later years, they are increasingly indicative of ASD. For adolescents and adults who present for a first-time evaluation for ASD, it is important to determine whether social withdrawal and difficulties with peer interactions are truly due to a long-standing ASD or to more recent-onset mood or anxiety disorder. Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders should also be considered. Among patients with ASD, comorbid anxiety and depression commonly emerge in adolescence and may require an additional diagnosis to inform targeted treatment."

Diagnosis is one thing, but successfully addressing those suffering with some form of Autism Spectrum Disorder is where the rubber meets the road. Much of this has to do with drugs. Allow me to explain. For the most part, physicians heavily rely on various forms of DRUG THERAPY for treating almost everyone who walks in their clinic. What does this paper say about this approach in relationship to Autism? Despite 'evidence' to the contrary (see the final quote from the top of the page), these authors admit that, "There are no medications that effectively target the core social symptoms of ASD". However, this does not prevent them from recommending any number of drugs and touting them as "evidence-based" for treating Autism. Despite suggesting a wide array of drugs that can be used to treat symptoms in those with ASD, they reveal that, "strong evidence exists for adverse effects, such as weight gain, sedation, and extrapyramidal effects."

The sad truth is that virtually all psyche drugs (drugs that affect the brain) lead to OBESITY. The "extrapyramidal effects" include fun things like restlessness pacing, foot-tapping, uncontrolled and severe muscle contractions of the head, neck, trunk, and tongue, tremors, stiff postures, lack of arm swing when walking, uncontrolled tongue, jaw, lip, or face movement, constant chewing or blinking, uncontrolled movements of appendages such as fingers or toes, head swaying or nodding, pelvic thrusting, weak voice, lack of facial expression, drool, grunting, groaning, or irregular breathing, etc, etc, etc......

Of course the article also touts SSRI ANTI-DEPRESSANTS --- drugs that are known to dramatically increase hallucinations / nightmares and suicides in children --- for children with Autism. They even admit that, "all other medications are used off-label for ASD." Off-label simply means that the drugs are being used in ways that have either never been studied, or have been studied and shown to be ineffective or dangerous (or more often than not, both). Oh, and naturally they recommend "STIMULANTS" for those with symptoms of ADHD. Despite the bleakness of outcomes when using drugs to treat those with Autism, the authors continue to recommend them throughout one's lifespan. "As children age, a variety of..... psychopharmacological interventions may be necessary."

As far as actually addressing problem via some sort of therapy, the authors say that, "early, intensive, individualized behavioral intervention is highly recommended for toddlers and young children with ASD." Although the older, "guidelines recommended 25 or more hours per week of direct intervention between a child and a trained clinician; newer models increasingly utilize parents in the role of interventionist to maximize the number of engaged, face-to-face hours a child receives." This is not surprising when you couple the EXPLOSION OF DIAGNOSED AUTISM with the cost over-runs (UNSUSTAINABILITY) that are almost ubiquitous to our current healthcare system.

Some of the specific forms of therapy mentioned by the authors include (everything is cherry-picked due to restraints on time and space), "speech and language therapy, intensive speech and behavioral interventions that target the development of alternative communication systems. Supplemental use of visual communication strategies, teaching and rehearsing social rules and scripts, manualized social skills programs, behavioral interventions, functional behavioral analyses, support for transitioning from school to community and vocational settings, assistance to connect with disability services, support options, group home settings, mental health clinicians, social and academic support, psychotherapy and job coaching, guidance, exploration and navigation of sexuality and relationship issues......"

When it comes to alternative forms of treatment for Autsim, they listed a slew of them. Unfortunately, they lumped them all into one broad category (CAM --- Complimentary and Alternative Medicine) and made sure everyone was aware that they are little more than snake oil --- "empirical support for most CAM interventions is limited." What is the most important thing these authors wanted you to take away concerning alternative forms of treatment for Autism?

"It is critical that mental health professionals inquire about and maintain an ongoing dialogue with families about their use of CAM and provide information about evidence-based adverse effects. The principle of “do no harm” applies to CAM as in all other aspects of medicine. If the child is not being harmed physically or mentally and the resource burden CAM interventions place on the family is not detracting from other, evidence-based interventions, then clinicians can support families in trying various treatments. Maintaining a dialogue about what treatments are being pursued and ensuring decisions are made in consultation with a physician are of utmost importance."

The authors act as though alternatives such as GLUTEN FREE DIETS or approaches that involve GUT HEALTH are dangerous --- a particularly egregious assertion when compared to the knon DANGERS OF DRUGS. And as bizarre as it might sound, they throw our nation's single biggest destroyer of Gut Health --- ANTIBIOTIC THERAPY --- in the same list as things like DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS, OXYGEN-BASED THERAPIES, and WHOLE FOOD NUTRITION. All of this (not to mention the constant talk of "BEST EVIDENCE" otherwise known as EBM or Evidence-Based Medicine) helps one understand why the general population's trust in the medical community continues to wane. It's painfully obvious that these recommendations are based more on protecting their professional turf, than helping autistic children.

If you or someone you love is struggling with problems that seem insurmountable --- including Autism --- why not at least take five minutes to learn what it would take for you to step out of the box. By dealing with underlying INFLAMMATION and abnormal BRAIN FUNCTION (not to mention cool new forms of treatment such as FMT), you have the potential make great strides in helping your loved ones trapped by the disease we call Autism. For a more comprehensive (and free) plan, you might want to take a look at THIS POST.

SOLVING CHRONIC HIP FLEXOR PROBLEMS IN A FEMALE ATHLETE

Tsutomu Takasu

Rapidly being able to solve Hip Flexor pain is a recurring theme in my clinic (HERE). Last fall Jane came to see me for Hip Flexor pain she had been dealing with for four or five years. Not only is this problem common in soccer players (most commonly where I see it) but in many other sports as well. Her's happened to be the result of a lifetime of sports --- mostly the result of pole vaulting in high school. Pole vaulting? After getting to know Jane a bit, I'm not surprised.

As a pole vaulter, Jane would drive off one leg, while violently throwing the other forward and up in a kicking motion trying to create the momentum needed to carry her up and over the bar. Although she was far from debilitated, A buildup of SCAR TISSUE in her abused Hip Flexor had severely affected her ability to run or exercise. One treatment eight months ago --- problem solved.

GUT HEALTH NOT ALL THAT IMPORTANT FOR YOUR BABIES?HUH?

A few days ago, Ed Yong of "The Atlantic" wrote an article calledDon’t Stress About Your Baby’s Microbiome Just Yet. The gist of his piece can be summed up in a few short sentences. "It’s clear that C-sections and antibiotics can change the microbiome. But there’s a tendency to assume that these changes are bad, that they last, and that they matter. And I’m not sure we have enough evidence to warrant any of those conclusions." He then talks about recent studies that prove his hypothesis.

As I've shown you before, EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE is often all over the place as far as results of studies are concerned. For instance, it wasn't that long ago (actually, many doctors are still guilty of this) that we were all being told that eggs and red meat cause HIGH CHOLESTEROL, and butter and SALT are bad for you. Now we know this is false. In similar fashion, I take exception to Yong's conclusions.

While C-Sections aren't the end of the world, VAGINAL DELIVERIES are extremely important for exposing babies to their first (good) bacteria. And as for his antibiotics-are-not-that-bad-for-your-baby-or-young-child stance, I would argue vehemently to the contrary. As I have shown you previously, ANTIBIOTICS are one of the single worst drugs you can put in your body as far as destroying your health is concerned (just browse the titles under the previous link). I've also shown you that the FIVE OR SIX ROUNDS OF ANTIBIOTICS PER YEAR that most parents consider to be no big deal ("normal"), have far bigger consequences than they could have even dreamed. In fact, I've gone out on a limb and shown parents that the antibiotics they continue to give their children are decimating their future health (HERE). Yong essentially admits this in the cherry-picked paragraph below.

"The gut microbiomes of malnourished Malawian infants mature slower than usual. The babies end up with communities that are less efficient at harvesting energy from food, which contributes to their low weight and weak bones. Possible culprits include gut diseases, poor diets, antibiotics, or combinations of all of the above. The point is: we don’t know. It’s a field that needs to move away from simply looking for changes to working out if those changes matter, from finding statistical significance to establishing actual significance."

I'll tell you what. You wait for more research and I'll trust my gut. My gut? That 's right; GUT HEALTH is arguably the number one factor as far as one's overall health is concerned. And nothing destroys it quicker than medications (HERE) --- most particularly antibiotics. Despite the recent interest in the MICROBIOME (it's been one of the hottest areas of study in the field of medicine for at least the past half decade), there is nothing new under the sun. Listen to what Drs. Paul Clayton and Judith Rowbotham wrote in a 2009 issue of The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (How the Mid-Victorians Worked, Ate and Died).

"Analysis of the mid-Victorian period in the U.K. (defined as the years between 1850 and 1870) reveals that life expectancy at age 5 was as good or better than exists today, and the incidence of degenerative disease was 10% of ours. Their levels of physical activity and hence calorific intakes were approximately twice ours. They had relatively little access to alcohol and tobacco [or non-snake oil pharmaceutical medications]; and due to their correspondingly high intake of fruits, whole grains, oily fish and vegetables, they consumed levels of micro- and phytonutrients at approximately ten times the levels considered normal today. They were almost entirely free of the degenerative diseases which maim and kill so many of us, and although it is commonly stated that this is because they all died young, the reverse is true; public records reveal that they lived as long – or longer – than we do in the 21st century."

Fewer DEGENERATIVE INFLAMMATORY DISEASES and a fraction of the amount of AUTOIMMUNITY? We shouldn't be surprised at all. I would argue that much of this was probably due not only to consuming lots of PRE-BIOTIC FIBER in their diets, but because they ate lots of fermented foods as well (kraut for instance). Furthermore, they were not tainted by all the drugs that DESTROY AND ALTER one's microbiome. Although the concept of the HYGIENE HYPOTHESIS was certainly not the model that the ancients based their theories on, healers of antiquity understood a simple concept that modern doctors (RESEARCHERS, NOT PRACTICING PHYSICIANS) are finally rediscovering. It was the great physician Hippocrates who stated 400 years before the time of Christ that, "all disease begins in the gut." And ever since, natural healers have been beating the same drum --- heal the gut, heal the body.

Although Yong is correct in saying that we have a long way to go as far as our understanding of the exact mechanisms of our collective microbiome, I believe he is missing the mark in his assessment of this situation. Remember that it's the medical community who still largely denies that INCREASED INTESTINAL PERMEABILITY exits, let alone is a health problem of epidemic proportions. And they even less often mention it's just as ugly twin sister --- DYSBIOSIS. When Yong's article is viewed through the lens of the curative potential of FMT, it almost becomes egregious. Every study on antibiotics is scarier than the one that came out before it. Because we know that at least half of all prescriptions for such are inappropriate or unnecessary, I suggest you do what it takes to keep yourself and your family off these and OTHER DRUGS.

A popular online medical dictionary describes "Tissue Deformation" thusly: "An alteration in shape or structure. Theprocess of adapting in shape or form.The temporary or permanentelongation of tissuewhen a prolongednondisruptivemechanicalforcehasbeenapplied.Thetemporarychangeinlength,volume,orshapeproducedinanelasticsubstancebyastressthatislessthantheelasticlimitofthesubstance." In other words, the force needed for me to remodel tissue must be greater than the Scar Tissue but less than the healthy tissue. Otherwise tearing occurs --- or any changes made are only temporary. Enter Dr. Mark Payne, inventor of the DAKOTA TRACTION DEVICE used for those struggling with Chronic Neck Pain.

CHRONIC NECK PAIN is a scourge in our hunched-over-our-computers-and-devices society. I've previously talked about Dr. Mark's work in making postural corrections that can actually alter the course of Chronic Neck Pain. I've also shown you why making said changes is relevant not only to those who have neck pain, but for those struggling with a wide variety of other health problems as well. Bottom line: If you can't get some Tissue Deformation going in your SCM MUSCLES and PLATYSMA, you can probably forget about making long-term changes to the structure of your neck. Listen to what Dr. Mark says in his latest newsletter about the different approaches required to stretch (remodel) tissues other than MUSCLES.

"Instead of the typical focus on just stretching taut musculature, our efforts are also going to include stretching the non-contractile tissues such as ligament, fascia, and tendon, all of which require sustained stretching (think 20-30 minutes of sustained low force daily stretching) to achieve visco elsastic / visco plastic deformation. That's why we typically need tools like extension traction devices......"

Even though they may never develop pain from it, the majority of our population has FORWARD HEAD POSTURE, as well as being in a perpetual (or nearly so) state of trunk and upper body Flexion --- a posture of rounded shoulders and slumped spine. What does this do? As Dr. Payne shows you, it has a deleterious effect on TENDONS, LIGAMENTS, and most particularly, FASCIA. Contrary to what your chiropractor may have told you, LARGE NUMBERS OF ADJUSTMENTS are not the solution to solving problems in these tissues. The only way to counter a flexed body is by working with it ("deforming" it) in the opposite direction ---- through EXTENSION THERAPY. Listen to what Wikipedia says about Tissue Deformation on their "Soft Tissue" page.

"Human soft tissue is highly deformable, and its mechanical properties vary significantly from one person to another. With increasing tissue deformation, collagen is gradually stretched in the direction of deformation. In soft tissues the collagen limits the deformation and protects the tissues from injury. Impact testing results showed that the stiffness and the damping resistance of a test subject’s tissue are correlated with the mass, velocity, and size of the striking object. When solid object impact a human soft tissues, the energy of the impact will be absorbed by the tissues to reducing effect of the impact or the pain level, therefore; subjects with more soft tissue thickness tended to absorb [dissipate] the impacts with less aversion."

Notice firstly that they are talking here about the most abundant protein in the human body --- COLLAGEN. Secondly, although it could be referring to things like HOCKEY or FOOTBALL injuries, it's most likely talking about the most common form of life-altering injury in our society --- MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENTS (sometimes we call these "WHIPLASH INJURIES"). Thirdly, the second part of this paragraph helps shed light on why women (or children for that matter) are so much more prone to these sorts of injuries than are men. It also explains why smaller is not necessarily better when it comes to the vehicle you drive. But let me take this whole process one step further.

When it comes to soft tissues, elasticity is better than stiffness, soft is better than hard, and normal tissue is better than Scar Tissue. In fact, the medical community has their own name for SCAR TISSUE --- FIBROSIS. If you click on the previous link and start reading, I promise that you will be shocked to learn that Fibrosis is arguably the number one cause of death in America. Where does it come from? Easy; INFLAMMATION. Follow the link and you'll see that INFLAMMATION always leads to Fibrosis. Period.

Although there are any number of potential drivers of Systemic Inflammation in the body (PARASITES, BLACK MOLD, SYSTEMIC YEAST, HEAVY METALS, PRESCRIPTION DRUGS, etc, etc, etc, etc,) the biggest by far is what you eat (SUGAR and GLUTEN are two of many). Furthermore, because GUT HEALTH is a gatekeeper of overall health and is itself heavily influenced by your diet (HERE for instance), failing to eat in a manner compatible with health (NOT JUST WEIGHT) will leave you with inflammation. This starts a cascade of health problems (HERE'S A SHOCKING ONE I wrote about just the other day), Inflammation, and Fibrosis. The end result is going to be pain, dysfunction, and ill health. Most importantly, over time it becomes almost impossible to separate these phenomenon from one another.

You can TREAT THE SYMPTOMS til the cows come home, but if you aren't willing to do some "heavy lifting" by making some serious lifestyle changes (and in some cases receive some INTENSIVE TREATMENT), it's not likely that much will change. If you are interested in seeing people who have made this change already, THIS PAGE is it. If you are interested in learning the ins and outs of what it's going to take to accomplish these changes, HERE it is --- free of charge.

TESTIMONIALS FROM THE WEBVICTORY

Sasin Tipchai - Amphoe Phochai/Thailand - Pixabay

As I have shown you repeatedly (YESTERDAY for instance), America is a nation of chronically inflamed, chronically ill, and chronically overweight individuals --- the majority of them unfortunately being self-induced. I love getting testimonials from people that my patients can relate to --- those who have been where my readers are, know what my readers are going through, and have done the heavy lifting required to conquer their problem(s). Words like "victory" and "conquer" indicate something that was earned. They are the language of war, commonly seen in ARMED CONFLICTS and even SPIRITUAL THINGS. Make no mistake about it; no matter how good your life is, it can be broken down into a series of battles. And when you are struggling to regain your health, a battle isn't good enough --- it has to be an all out war. Otherwise you are likely to go down in the flames of defeat.

The first testimonial comes from Wendy Farris of Montana, who provided this online comment to AN ARTICLE I had written on my Destroy Chronic Pain website. BTW, HERE is the link to Dr. RE Tent's site in Novi, Michigan (he has lots of cool stuff on YouTube as well).

Hello Doctor,You are my new hero (you and Dr. Tent)! I admire your logical thinking, though one thing I don't hear anyone mention is the medications everyone is / was on. For my father's situation, I found that his ED Medication actually started his pain in his legs, buttocks, shoulders, wrists, etc....no doctor or test came up with this one. Luckily I ran into a similar website where people talked about their common side effects that were supposed to be so rare. People need to know to stop these medications and their mysterious pains in some cases could actually have a chance to get better as happened for my father. Thank God for the Internet because doctors and safety inserts are inadequate.

Thanks for sharing Wendy. You are spot-on about the whole stop-your-medication-because-it-could-be-causing-your-problem thing (with your doctor's permission of course). The "trust us" safety inserts are inadequate and rarely tell the whole story. This phenomenon is so common in my patients taking STATINS, it's the first thing I want to know in those coming to see me for joint or muscle pain. And what about REBOUND HEADACHES --- headaches caused by the very medications used to treat them? Or FLUOROQIONOLONE ANTIBIOTICS? Or......? The truth is, drugs are far more dangerous than we have been led to believe (HERE & HERE), much of which is due to another of the dirty little secrets within the medical community commonly known as "UNDERREPORTING".

Even though most of my readers are probably not aware, one of the most common side effects of ED drugs (ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION) is pain --- muscle pain, joint pain, and spine pain. This is particularly true of the bathtub drug, Cialis. After doing a great deal of research, Wendy's advice here is excellent.

Far too often, people's problems are FUNCTIONAL AS OPPOSED TO PATHOLOGICAL. Plainly stated, this means they won't show up on tests. This leads to several scenarios, most of which are bad. Maybe your doctor will give you that deer-in-the-headlights look that indicates they have no idea what's wrong with you or how to go about fixing it. Or maybe you'll be treated as a malingerer --- a drug seeker or person looking to cash in on Disability. Or maybe you become the GUINEA PIG that's really more like a cow ("Cash Cow") than anything else.

Fortunately; thanks to the power of the internet (message boards, research, articles, journals, my site), you can become an expert. Although most doctors absolutely despise this and feel that you are meddling in their turf, I have seen lots and lots of patients figure out their problems when neither myself nor their physician had any idea. Case in point, an exceedingly healthy female patient who was recently having chronic low back pain realized that her problem was being caused by the sinus medication she was taking. Bottom line, nothing in this post should come as a surprise considering what you find in THESE POSTS.

This next testimonial comes from Isabel in response to a post (AUTISM AND GUT HEALTH) I wrote for this site three and a half years ago (for those who are interested, I've written a number of similar articles since then; HERE & HERE are two of the more recent).

Hi Dr. Russ,Thank you for spreading this information. I put my lupus into remission after years of getting worse and worse! Three doctors told me there was no help in changing diet whatsoever. After 3 DAYS on the Specific Carb Intro Diet (basically the same as GAPS although GAPS she specifically geared towards autism) I felt better than I had in MY WHOLE LIFE. Swollen knuckles, depression and anxiety that was so bad I basically had people telling me I had a personality disorder and should be medicated for the rest of life -- the fatigue and rashes and nausea all gone! Wow I really did notice that certain foods made my symptoms flare and was not just imagining it like everyone will tell you!

Mainstream medicine almost killed me, that Plaquenil did nothing but make me sick for months! And what the mainstream doctors and psychiatrists offer is enough to make anyone kill themselves. I was looking into assisted suicide because I felt like my life had absolutely NO HOPE. If I lived in the Netherlands I am sure I would have been able to qualify for assisted suicide! Thank goodness for real healers like you and Dr Natasha spreading honest information. Many people would probably rather be sick than give up their favorite addictive treats but many of us want the best for our children and not eating these foods is a small sacrifice for the peace and wellness it brings.Isabel

If you pay attention, you'll notice that there is a lot said by Isabel in these two short paragraphs. For starters, if you are actively looking into assisted suicide, the problem is code-red serious. Secondly, she talks about ADDICTIVE TREATS. She's not exaggerating. Study after study has shown that JUNK FOOD (and particularly sugar) is more addictive than hard drugs such as METH, Coke, or HEROIN. Thirdly, she is absolutely correct --- there are many people who would rather be sick than give up certain foods. It's the nature of an addiction. I've actually had lots of patients tell me something along the lines of, "Don't talk to me about that stuff doc, I'm not interested. I don't care about eating right and I absolutely hate exercising. The thing is doc, I have good insurance. If I get sick I just go to the doctor. Meanwhile, I do what I want to do, live how I want to live, and eat what I want to eat." And her statements about Psychiatrists and DEPRESSION --- interesting in light of the post that went viral a couple weeks ago (see link).

One of the drugs that Isabel specifically mentioned was Plaquenil; an anti-malarial medication that's also used to treat RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS, Lupus, and other AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES (not to mention it's occasionally used for HIGH CHOLESTEROL and DIABETES). When this drug is used long term, Wikipedia says the side effects include, "abdominal cramps, diarrhea, heart problems, reduced appetite, headache, nausea and vomiting, altered eye pigmentation, acne, anemia, bleaching of hair, blisters in mouth and eyes, blood disorders, convulsions, vision difficulties, diminished reflexes, emotional changes, excessive coloring of the skin, hearing loss, hives, itching, liver problems or failure, loss of hair, muscle paralysis, weakness or atrophy, nightmares, psoriasis, reading difficulties, tinnitus, skin inflammation and scaling, skin rash, vertigo and weight loss, and can worsen existing cases of both psoriasis and porphyria."

And now it's time to discuss the $64,000 question; how'd Isabel do it? She did it JUST LIKE MY SISTER DID IT when she lost 100 lbs in just over half a year, and essentially "cured" herself of some of these same diseases (RA / Lupus / Scleroderma). Whether you use a GAPS, Specific Carb Intro Diet, PALEO DIET, ELIMINATION DIET, or any number of other similar doesn't matter. What does matter is that seriously cleaning up your diet is the first step in getting the job done. Next you'll need to address your Leaky Gut as well as the imbalances within your Microbiome called Dysbiosis (all found HERE).

It's all free on my site. When I say free, I mean free. I'm not selling products through my site (although one day I might), or trying to upsell you in some form or fashion. I am truly interested in your health. And as you can see from these two testimonials (we get similar every day), the message is making the rounds. If you want it, you'll have to educate yourself and put forth some effort. The cool thing is, it's easier than you thought. For more information about solving your own health problems, HERE is the link.

JOHN OLIVER'S MEDICAL DEBT RANT AND AMERICA'S BURGEONING WAISTLINESIS THERE A LINK?

Anja Osenberg - Deutschland - Pixabay

Although I have never watched JOHN OLIVER except for a couple things posted on YouTube, his rants are frequently reported as 'news'. Just the other day, he bought fifteen million dollars worth of unpaid medical bills for $60,000 and forgave all of it. For those keeping score, he paid less than one half of one percent of the original bill to acquire this debt (.4 cents on the dollar).

Without getting into the debate over whether medical care costs too much (who could argue otherwise?), I want to tell you why this problem isn't going away any time soon --- even if every single person in America were covered under the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care). It is easy to explain by looking at a study that came out on the same day.

The current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association carried a study called Trends in Obesity Among Adults in the United States, 2005 to 2014. In this study we learned that American women have finally cracked the 40% rate for OBESITY. And if you happen to be a black or Hispanic woman, the numbers are higher still (50% higher for black women). What's the connection between the two stories?

In interviews for the Oliver story, people were, as you might expect, ticked off at the cost of medical care in America. I don't blame them. But whose fault is it? In other words, what is driving the marketplace? I realize that there are any number of reasons that people get sick (or injured) --- many of them that will forever remain unknown. However, the majority of sick people in America have no one to blame but themselves. Think I'm being harsh? Let's look at the facts.

Inflammation is devastating our nation, not just mechanically (HERE), but as far as sickness and disease are concerned as well (HERE & HERE). Were you aware that obesity falls under the same category of illness as our nation's biggest killers (Chronic Inflammatory Degenerative Diseases)? That's right, the very same Inflammation that causes you to gain weight is the root cause of the diseases with the highest rates of morbidity and mortality, i.e. ARTHRITIS, CANCER, DIABETES, HEART DISEASE, AUTOIMMUNITY, etc, etc, etc. Stats like this don't even count health issues that simply make LIFE EMOTIONALLY PAINFUL. This is why obesity is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Writing in the same issue of JAMA, Harvard's David Ludwig (MD / Ph.D) agreed when he editorialized.....

"The new [obesity] rates signal a looming social and economic catastrophe..... Obesity and poor quality diet predispose to all of the major chronic diseases, but these risks have been mitigated over the past few decades by an increasingly powerful and expensive array of treatments. The data from the CDC report suggests that a tipping point has been reached, beyond which technological advances may no longer compensate. Indeed, higher resolution data shows that this trend has probably been underway for years.... Contrary to conventional perspective, recent research has shown that food affects hunger, hormones, and even genetic expression in ways that cannot be explained by consideration of calorie balance alone."

Pay attention as I walk you through what he is saying in this paragraph.

OBESITY IS A FINANCIAL DISASTER: For women, obesity is defined as having a BMI of 30 or greater, or a waistline of 35 or bigger. When you have 60% of all African American and almost 50% of Hispanic women not just overweight, but obese, that's a problem. When four out of ten 'white' women are not just overweight, but obese, that's a problem. However, the real conundrum is that so far, throwing billions of tax payer dollars at this problem has done absolutely nothing to solve it --- or for that matter even slow it down. By some estimates, obesity costs the economy in the neighborhood of half a trillion dollars (CHECK OUT THIS INFOGRAPHIC to grasp how big a trillion dollars is). It's a chief reason that no matter who is paying for it, our current trajectory for healthcare spending is UNSUSTAINABLE.

OBESITY IS RELATED TO ALL DISEASES: Mostly this is via jacked blood sugar. Sugar is massively inflammatory (HERE). Americans consume over thirty times the amount of sugar per capita that we were in 1900. And this doesn't begin to touch on the problem of refined and heavily processed carbs. It's not tough to understand that when you add the fact that almost all diseases have their roots in UNCONTROLLED BLOOD SUGAR to our national propensity for LIVING THE PROCESSED CARBOHYDRATE LIFESTYLE, we are floundering as far as our collective health is concerned Bottom line, because so many of us are so inflamed, too many of us are likewise obese.

DRUGS CONTROL SYMPTOMS: Drugs frequently do a fairly good job of "mitigating" symptoms. A great example of this phenomenon are STATIN DRUGS. The problem is that they do this without actually changing underlying physiology. Take away the drugs, and presto.... the symptoms are back --- usually with a vengeance. Unfortunately, most classes of drugs (Statins are a great example here as well) have side effects. Side effects are not only an extremely serious problem (HERE), they are under-reported almost 100% of the time (HERE). This means that most drugs' risk-to-benefit profiles are extremely skewed in favor of industry --- the topic of my next post.

WE'VE GONE PAST THE POINT WHERE DRUGS WORK: Drugs were never meant to do what they are being used for today. Obesity is the perfect example. Contrary to anything you've been told, other than METH and it's crazy side-effect profile, there are no good drugs for obesity (HERE). Contrary to popular belief, blood sugar drugs don't work as advertised either (HERE). It's one thing for a drug to be used to provide a person with, in the immortal words of Sgt. Pepper, "a little help". It's something completely different to try and use poly-pharmacy in the massive doses needed to control the symptoms of today's chronically sick and inflamed population. Despite this fact, Big Pharma continues to tout "EVIDENCE" that drugs are wonderful --- even in the face of facts to the contrary. In other words folks, we have entered a medical Twilight Zone where drugs aren't working as advertised --- despite BEING INCESSANTLY TOLD that they are. As I've shown you previously; a nation of extremely sick people who are living a very long time is the medico-pharmeceutical industry's wet dream (HERE). This is why there is only one person who is going to change your life and health --- you.

FOOD MATTERS: Even though this is a no-brainer, when was the last time your doctor made a meaningful / helpful suggestion concerning your diet? THERE'S GOOD REASON this rarely happens. Dr. Ludwig talks at length in his editorial about the ways that food affects people, and in the quote above, mentions three specific areas --- hunger, hormones, and genetic expression. If you want to control your hunger and break your ADDICTIONS TO SUGAR AND JUNK FOOD, you are going to have to start thinking about a PALEO DIET or something similar (some of you might need to go "full pull" and look into INTERMITTENT FASTING or even a KETOGENIC DIET). Because most of our food is inflammatory; and inflammation attacks both the endocrine system and gut (HERE is a link that encompasses both), it's no surprise that our hormones are being affected --- sometimes in ways we can barely fathom (XENOHORMONES). And as for genetic expression, this one is simple as well. We've been taught for years that the be all, end all of medicine is the field of genetics. Wrong. Figuring out how to control gene expression through lifestyle (EPIGENETICS) is far bigger. It also means that you have to own responsibility for most of your health problems instead of trying to blame them on mom and dad's DNA.

CALORIES REALLY DON'T MATTER: Food matters; calories don't. The venerable GARY TAUBES has beat this drum for at least two decades. He's right, and the scientific side of the medical community knows it even if the doctors in practice cannot get the propaganda they learned back in medical school out of their collective heads. If you want to understand why maintaining your weight is more than simply thinking of terms of calories in / calories burned, go back and take a look at the link on Ketogenic Diets.

As you can see, there was a lot of meat in that cherry-picked paragraph. None of it matters if you don't put what you've learned into action. Ludwig tells us that according years of research, calorie restriction does not work. Just like I agreed with most of what he said about drugs, I would heartily agree with him here as well. However, you can change your life without starving yourself. It's really not as hard as you may have been led to believe. Study (THIS POST is a great starting point) and then sit down and create a WRITTEN PLAN. It's a matter of knowledge coupled with action steps.

I recently received an email that asked, "Dr. Schierling, for a site called Destroy Chronic Pain, why do you have so much stuff on your site that's not related to pain?" Firstly, I'm not going to apologize for occasionally putting things on my site that have nothing whatsoever to do with pain --- or sometimes even with health. Secondly, I would argue that this person is thinking about my site incorrectly. The reason I have so many different health-related topics is because if you can improve your health, you can improve every aspect of your life --- including the amount of CHRONIC PAIN you struggle with on a day to day basis. Let me briefly show you what I'm talking about.

INFLAMMATION IS RELATED TO SCAR TISSUE, CHRONIC PAIN, AND VIRTUALLY ALL CHRONIC ILLNESS: Although the average person takes comfort in blaming their poor health on "BAD GENETICS," inflammation is the source of 99% of America's health woes. I've shown you in at least HALF A DOZEN POSTS that the SCAR TISSUE the medical community refers to as "FIBROSIS" has its origins in inflammation. And the funny thing is, I find that even among people who are 'in the know' not one in one hundred can adequately explain what it is. I continue to beat this drum because inflammation really is everything when it comes to health (HERE is an example from just the other day). What's arguably the single most inflammatory thing that Americans (and increasingly, the rest of the world) do to ourselves every day of our lives? We can't seem to tone down the HIGH CARB LIFESTYLE. If you are wondering whether or not you are inflamed, take this simple little SELF TEST.

IT'S IMPERATIVE THAT YOU UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF GUT HEALTH: One of the bigger categories on my blog is "GUT HEALTH". Because 80% of your body's entire Immune System lives in your "Gut" (HERE), a failure to grasp this simple concept dooms many people's health endeavors to failure. And the thing is; much of it is being caused by the medical profession via the gross over-prescription of ANTIBIOTICS. People end up with INCREASED INTESTINAL PERMEABILITY (Leaky Gut Syndrome) and its less popular but just as ugly twin sister, DYSBIOSIS. If you are dealing with severe chronic health issues of any sort, you cannot afford to neglect addressing your Gut's health (HERE is one of the increasingly popular ways to do this). There's good reason that old time healers had a saying, "Heal the gut; heal the body."

YOU NEED TO REALIZE THAT EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE IS NOT ALWAYS AS "EVIDENCE-BASED" AS YOU HAVE BEEN LED TO BELIEVE: Because all of us grew up in an era of hardcore multimedia advertising (radio, magazines, TV, internet, etc), we have all been brainwashed much more than we care to admit. Much of this brainwashing has come at the hands of BIG PHARMA. Just remember that when it comes to the practice of medicine, little is as it seems. If you want to turn your life around, you'll have to create your own personal EXIT STRATEGY that's not based solely on DANGEROUS MEDICINE. If you take just a moment to thumb titles of our posts on EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE, you'll quickly realize that even though your doctor is a wonderful person, the system itself is a cesspool (HERE). If you are not willing to step outside of this box, you will find it difficult (maybe even impossible) to solve your chronic problems. This is because drugs never change physiology; they cover symptoms.

DIET, EXERCISE, AND LIFESTYLE HAVE A FAR BIGGER, BETTER, AND LONGER-LASTING AFFECT THAN DRUGS: If you haven't figure it out by now, I'll hit you with it one more time --- DRUGS are not only dangerous, they rarely address the underlying cause(s) of what ails you. Lifestyle and EXERCISE go without saying, but there is so much controversy about what constitutes a "healthy" diet, it's sometimes hard to know where to begin. It's not as hard as you might imagine. Everyone needs to eat an ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DIET, and it's my belief that the best of these is PALEO or something similar. I've found nothing that is better at dealing with inflammation. Furthermore, the vast majority of us need to be thinking in terms of LOW CARB. For those of us in worse shape, that might mean at least contemplating a KETOGENIC DIET. And when it comes to weight loss, forget what you've heard your whole life and get it done quickly (HERE or HERE). Not that I really need to loose any weight, but I am currently in the middle of an experiment with INTERMITTENT FASTING. So far, I'm pretty amazed.

Despite the fact that a large segment of our society (including the government) continues to push for "FREE HEALTHCARE FOR EVERYONE," we should all realize by now that this is a pie-in-the-sky pipe dream. The point being, you are responsible for your own health. Take the bull by the horns and use the information on this page to create a personalized plan for taking back your health. Need a starting point? HERE it is. The super cool thing is that if you will diligently work at this, you'll see major changes in just a few weeks.

Dr. Schierling completed four years of Kansas State University's five-year Nutrition / Exercise Physiology Program before deciding on a career in Chiropractic. He graduated from Logan Chiropractic College in 1991, and has run a busy clinic in Mountain View, Missouri ever since. He and his wife Amy have four children (three daughters and a son).